The present state of the working class in China article is from October No 74-75, February-March 1983. The translation is by October Review.
Since the foundation of the new China the Chinese Communist Party has always claimed that the proletariat is the leading
In fact it is the party that rules while the working class is totally power-
In order to develop industrial production, to counter imperialism and the bourgeoisie with the strength of working class and to avoid opposition developing between the working class and the party, the CCP has been forced to give the working class better material conditions than the peasants.
The strength and importance of the working class increased significantly with the development of industry. According to the official statistics the number of workers in China in 1952 was 16.03 million. This increased almost sixfold by 1981 to 109.4 million. The number of industrial workers rose from about 5 million in 1952 to 46 million in 1981, almost eight times as many.
The value of industrial production represented only 41.47 per cent of the total value of industrial and agricultural production in 1952, whereas by 1981 it was about 70 per cent. Thus, the working class assumes an increasingly favourable position in the balance of social forces.
The living standards of the class improved relatively significantly during the period of the first five-year plan (1953-57), but did not improve very much during the next two decades, as is shown in the table. i. From the frenetic Great Leap Forward in 1958 until the Foreign Leap Forward in 1978 average industrial wages for 21 years had in fact decreased. ii. The increase in recent years is more rapid, partly due to various kinds of bonuses (generally around 10 per cent), and living allowances (10 to 14 per cent). ili. Average industrial wages increased by 65 per cent between 1952 and 1981, but the actual increase was only 15 per cent.
Our experience is that cost of living indexes compiled by those in power are always far below reality. It is doubtful that prices only increased by 50 per cent 22 in 30 years. And the increase in workers wages is minimal if compared to the official figures on the increase in value of industrial output. This was 18 times greater in 1981 than in 1952, times greater than in 1949. contrast between the increase in productivity and the increase in wages obviouscauses resentment and loss of the motivation to work among the workers.
The generalised phenomenon of 'no one taking responsibility, in the words of Deng Xiaoping, in the factories, and the general indifference and passivity of the workers, have forced the regime to adopt material incentives, to raise the wages of the majority of workers to a certain degree. But inflation in the past few years has offset the increase in wages. Housing is another acute problem. Thus workers tend to pursue more income to improve their living standards. This is what the describes as "individualism' and A NEW GENERATION OF WORKERS
From 1949 to 1969 the average annual increase in the number of workers
From 1970 to 1981 the figure was nearer 4 million. The proportion of young workers below 35 is thus increasing, reaching 60 million at the end
- about 60 per cent of all workers. AVERAGE ANNUAL WAGE OF STAFF
& WORKERS IN THE STATE SECTOR
OF THE NATIONAL ECONOMY in renmimbi yuar RM equals 1 US dollar
YEAR ALL INDUSTRIAL
SECTORS SECTOR 1952 446 515 1953 496 576 1956 610 674 1958 550 526 1959 524 514 1962 592 652 1964 661 741 1966 636 689 1969 618 683 1970 609 661 1973 614 640 1974 622 648 1977 602 632 1978 644 683 1979 705 758 1980 803 854 1981 812 852 (Note: The 1981 average wage for all sectors increased by 80% compared with that for 1952. The actual increase was 29.4% after adju tment for increases in the cost of living.
This new generation of workers has some specific characteristics. Firstly, the great majority come from the cities Among new workers entering the factories since 1966, 80 per cent have been from workers families, thus carrying the tradition of workers struggles.
Many of them have also received senior or junior secondary school education. The better education they have received, compared to that of the older workers, allows them a wider perspective, more active thinking, a greater sensitivity to social problems, and stronger desire for changes.
Finally, many of this generation participated in or witnessed the struggles during the Cultural Revolution, thus being able to learn from the lessons of these struggles.
In recent years many young workers have devoted themselves to fighting for democracy. They have published samizdat journals, or participated in local elections. The most active have been arrested. Among the dozens of leaders of the democracy movement arrested in April 1981 were a majority of young workers.
In conditions of severe repression workers in general have not actively fought for better working conditions and democratic rights. Still, local slowdowns or strikes have occasionally occurred. The outright removal of the workers right to strike from the Constitution reflects the ruling team's fear of
The CCP organ Red Flag carried a series of six articles by Yu Yannan on the Chinese working class. These articles revealed a 'different understanding' of the young generation of workers among the CCP cadres. Some think that the *basic situation of the young workers is very bad', some that 'the political quality of this generation of workers has much deteriorated', and some even that they have "lost the class nature of the working
Yu Yannan represents the official view. He considers that the class concepts of today's working class are fading', and that bourgeois and other non-proletarian ideas have quite seriously eroded
If this is true, then the primary responsibility lies with the CCP and its rightist policies in recent years, and the extravagant lives of the bureaucrats. In any event, such comments reveal the mutual lack of confidence between the bureaucracy and the workers.
OPPOSITION BETWEEN THE WORKERS AND THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY
This mutual lack of confidence is rooted in the opposition between the ruler and the ruled, the privileged and the oppressed. This expresses itself in many material ways. 1. Statistical Yearbook of China pp 435-6, English edition.
Yu Yannan's article Strengthen the links with the worker masses' three ways in which the party cadres 'on a national scale' have 'departed' from the worker masses. These are:
•Some party cadres exploit their influence for their own self interest; 'at present, incorrect practices in the arrangement of work for the children of cadres or in the distribution of staff housing are quite general and the worker masses are resentful of this.'
'Some party members give a bad example, they opt for easy avoid difficult ones, scramble for benefits, and misbehave in their jobs...some young workers remark that people are admitted into the Party, I will not enter the Party":
"There are too few party members on the frontline of production. More party members go into the management sectors, causing a relative concentration of party members there. The more arduous labour the work requires, the fewer the party members. This is a serious question related to the class nature and mass base of our party.' (2)
Party cadres in the factories and enterprises, by faithfully implementing the CCP's orders and supervising the workers, are given special powers and inter-
Large numbers of opportunists strive to become party cadres. that join the party are either assimilated into the bureaucracy, or become frustrated and demoralised.
There are many examples of the divide between the CCP and the workers. heriting the Stalinist tradition, the CCP has launched campaigns to model workers to serve as an example in hard work and support for the regime in the factories. But these campaigns have not achieved the expected results. fact, many model workers are isolated by
Yu's article gives some
Yu's article explains that,
'Investigations show that, at present, a rather tense relationship between the cadres and the masses exists in some enterprises. workers lack their rightful democratic rights, and this has become one of the main factors directly affecting the political enthusiasm of the masses. enterprises, the so-called relationship between the cadres and the masses is to a large extent the question of the relationship between the party and the masses?
ordinance on the workers congresses was promulgated less than a year after the formation of Solidarnose in Poland, indicating the fear among the burof Polish-type developments
Reports indicate that at the end of 1981 about 0.1 million enterprises (about 26 per cent of all the enterprises in China) had established workers gresses. Yu's article reveals the effectiveness of the present system, only a minority of workers' congresses ers have no right to join the manage-
These words draw a vivid picture of bureaucrats clinging to power and using the workers congresses only as an instrument through which to exercise their power. However, the workers are also using the rights they are given under this
Even though the ordinance did state that the workers congresses have the power to elect factory managers this has been done on an increasing scale, dealing a blow to the bureacratic privileges of the nomenklatura
CONTRADICTIONS IN IDEOLOGICAL WORK
In January 1983 the CCP propaganda department and six other units convened a working conference on ideological and political work among the staff and workers of the whole country, with the aim of 'mobilising the whole illustration of this.
authorities, 66 of the 126 model weavers
Chinese workers look at luxury items in shop window (DR)
in the country have met with ridicule and
Large numbers of facts show operate well, a considerable majority of guarantee the successful realisation of the that the malpractice of isolating and attacking progressive workers exists to different extents in many regions and units, and they have a certain universality?
The article recommends that intermediate and backward workers must be educated to treat progressive workers correctly. Yu explains that 'the majority of units show varying degrees of formalism, or simply making a gesture towards democracy, in their workers congresses, raising strong objections from the broad layers of workers.'
Yu explains that 'the primary reason lies in cadres in leadership He gives concrete examples, 'a considerprogramme of the 12th Congress of the
The CCP has used its massive propaganda machine to carry out ideological work among the workers, but has failed to overcome the existing contradictions. The CCP has ascribed the failure of this to the cadres, *During a rather long period the progressive deeds are overtime work, able number of cadres in leadership po- people have had a very narrow and simoverfulfilment of the production quota, willingness to suffer austerity, etc.' (3)
To supplement the campaign to learn from model workers the CCP has recently used bonuses to create division and competition among workers. the unrewarding outcome for them has been that most bonuses are shared collectively among the workers, without the original aim of increasing production being achieved.
In order to alleviate the tension, and to better implement its policies, the CCP has been compelled to introduce the system of workers congresses. (4)
sitions...fear that if the power of the congresses grows, their own power will diminish. tions in some enterprises assume full control...all matters are discussed and decided by the party committee, and then adopted by the workers congress. cadres in administrative leadership positions only think of convening the workers congress when they come across difficulties such as unfulfilled production tasks...some comrades even think that enterprises under state ownership should have the managers appointed by the state and endowed with full powers, and workplistic understanding of this work. the ten years of turmoil [i.e. the Cultural Revolution] it was even treated as a way to 'make the masses suffer'. This has caused the worker masses to be distrustful and fearful.' (6)
Refer to 'Analysis of the workers congress August 1981, and and Polish Events have ReperNo 17, November 15, 1982.
People's Daily, January 23, 1983, Editor-